(NewsNation) — While New York City’s Manhattan is the center of former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial, the president is also holding a rally in the Bronx as he continues his campaign for the presidency.
The former president hasn’t held a rally in the city since 2016. He’s hoping to drum up support in a historically blue state that President Joe Biden easily won in 2020.
While Trump has been in Manhattan a lot in recent weeks, attending the trial where he is accused of falsifying business records to hide information from voters, Thursday’s rally takes him to the Bronx.
He’ll be trying to reach constituents not traditionally seen as Republican to try to sway their vote in November. The Bronx is 57% Hispanic, 28% Black and 8% white. Former President Barack Obama won the Bronx in 2012 with 91% of the vote, to give context, and Biden won 83.5% of the borough in 2020.
In the 2020 election, Trump picked up just 16% of the vote. Polls have shown Trump starting to move the needle with Black and Latino voters, and this rally is one effort to keep that momentum.
One voter told NewsNation she was hoping to see change in the neighborhood in terms of better education and a crackdown on violence. She also hopes to hear more about jobs and an end to the “gay agenda” in schools.
Trump still has ground to gain in those demographics, but he is hoping to make an impact by focusing on the economy under Biden.
Some counterprotesters have assembled in the area as well, calling him so unpopular in the Bronx he is “radioactive.”